What comes next after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest?

0:06Years of rumblings over whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would ever be investigated by police in connection with his relationship to Jeffrey Epstein have come to a head. So what's next for Andrew and how will the royal family jump neatly over this hurdle? Hi and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. I'm Tamara Kormornick. For all the latest news head to standard.co.uk. Coming up, what comes next for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor?

0:48Yesterday, the King's brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince and Duke of York, was arrested at home in Sandringham on suspicion of misconduct in public office during his time as trade envoy to the UK. To discuss the events of the past 24 hours, I speak to The Standards' crime correspondent, Anthony France, to dig into how the justice system deals with the crime of misconduct in public office, how the royal family might deal with a potential trial, and the witch hunt waiting in the wings.

1:26I'm going to add a disclaimer here. Andrew has strenuously denied wrongdoing and has not accepted any of the allegations against him or any wrongdoing whatsoever. This is a very early stage of the investigation and reporting is necessarily limited. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Anthony. Anthony, thanks so much for joining me on the Standard Podcast. I mean, you're incredibly busy right now on the live blog, but I just wanted to catch you to chat about the story. It's obviously an unprecedented event, what's happened. No member of the royal family has been arrested for anything like this, at least not in recent history.

2:08Anthony, could you take me through the events of the day and what can you say at this current time? We're recording late afternoon. What's going on? Yes, well, I mean, it's an absolutely momentous day as far as both the royal family politics and policing is concerned. As you said, Andrew Mountbetten-Windsor, who was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office by Thames Valley Police today. We saw the pictures of the police cars and police officers who turned up on the Sandringham estate to take him into custody on his 66th birthday today. And this is all in relation to allegations that he had his relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

3:01And the police have been looking into that. We know there's at least eight other police forces that are looking into various allegations that have come from the release of files from the US Justice Department. And Anthony, could you take me through some of the crimes that Andrew has been arrested on suspicion of? Well, he's only been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in the public office. so that is effectively while he was the trade envoy for this country that he was giving information to Jeffrey Epstein and I would have thought that the there would have been some sort of inducement for that I think is where the police will be looking at the misconduct what why was he doing that so this is Thames Valley Police so that's the investigation we know about that one So then you have other police forces who are looking into information.

4:03So they're not launching the investigation. So they're looking into allegations that women were trafficked into the UK to have sex with Andrew at places including Buckingham Palace. So they're looking at the moment at flight manifests. Jeffrey Epstein, as we know, he had a private jet called the Lolita Express that it was nicknamed. Now, Andrew, as I said, denies all of this. And these are not police investigations. These are just police looking at information that has come from these files. So at the moment, the only investigation, the only thing that Thames Valley Police will be asking Andrew about will be his role as a trade envoy and anything that he might have been given Jeffrey Epstein.

4:49Anthony, you head of crime reporting at The Standard. Could you tell us more about the alleged offence of misconduct in public office? How serious is this offence and how do the courts usually treat it? um well it is um it's a very very serious offense uh misconduct in the public office in fact it actually carries a life sentence if you're convicted now typically most members of the public would have seen um police officers particularly um who have been um arrested charged and jailed for misconduct in a public office it is defined as the serious uh willful abuse or neglect of power or responsibilities of public office.

5:35So it doesn't matter if you're a police officer or a member of a royal family. Technically, you know, it's very unlikely that he will go to prison for life. If I could just boil it down to this, if you are being paid by the taxpayer, and somebody else is paying you, so therefore you have two paymasters, you know, So you are in very serious trouble when it comes to the misconduct in the public office. And Anthony, let's do some scenario planning here. So, you know, this investigation has begun now. What are the possible next stages? Could you take us through some different scenarios? Yeah. So firstly, the police arresting someone like Andrew, you know, I mean, it couldn't be a bigger fall from grace to find himself in a police station, you know, having his mugshot taken, having his fingerprints taken, having his DNA taken.

6:34I mean, these are all standard things that happen with someone when they are arrested. It makes his complaints about the peppercorn rent, you know, completely futile in comparison. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, for somebody like that, you know, presumably this is a, you know, police station that would have been used by commoners, if you like, you know, ordinary people who have been arrested for things. So, you know, he would have gone through that process of being arrested. And then his solicitors, so let's say that he has a solicitor, because of course, anyone who appears at a police station has the opportunity to have a duty solicitor who, if you can imagine, they turned up this morning, not quite knowing which cases they would be dealing.

7:15And then to see on the chart, you know, on the arrest sheet, you know, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. That is incredible. But I presume by now he would have got his own solicitor. And then it's then a process of the police giving early disclosure to the lawyer so he can then be interviewed under caution in the police station. Obviously, there'll be either an audio recording of that or a video recording as some police stations now have. But it's extremely humiliating for someone like him. And would those recordings be something that could be made public? Yeah, so it is common at the end of cases, you know, someone has been convicted for the police to release that.

8:04Now, if that is then played to a jury, of course, journalists can then request that. That is, you know, something that we can now request. I can understand there'll be sensitivities around the police releasing something like that. But I mean, if it's played before a jury at some point, that is something that journalists can request. We'll take a quick break. Coming up, Anthony and I discuss how the royal family might handle a criminal trial and the likelihood of Andrew testifying in the US.

8:40Welcome back. Let's head straight back to my conversation with Anthony. Anthony, we have to remind listeners that Andrew hasn't actually had a chance to put forward his side of things so far. Do you think this arrest is going to really increase the pressure on Andrew to go to the US and testify? Because lawmakers and the family of the Epstein victim, Virginia Dufresne, have been pushing for this and he's been pushing back. Yeah, there is no chance of him going to the US to give evidence in the short term. This police inquiry and all the different forces in the UK are going to take precedent over anything that's happening in America.

9:26Also, it's just not in his best interest to say anything publicly. He's already given the Newsnight interview, which obviously, you know, the Crown prosecution. I was going to say, he's probably never spoken again. Yeah.

9:44Anthony, why do you think it's taken so long to investigate Andrew? You know, there have been rumblings for years. Do you think it's a case of, you know, the last of the Epstein files has been released by the US Department of Justice? Do you think there's going to be some sort of witch hunt over who knew what, when and why this has taken so long? Yeah, I think there will be a witch hunt about who knew what, you know, because you have to remember that everywhere Andrew goes and everything he does, he has a protection team of bodyguards who follow him everywhere. So what were they doing? And the difference with the Epstein files, the release of the files, is that for the very first time, the police have got evidence.

10:30you know you've got a lot of people who've been saying stuff but you know the police have to act on the evidence i mean this man has kept an unbelievable amount of documents now not all of the documents will will be genuine but the police in this country are going to very much want to get hold of uh the sort of unredacted documents um you know to see all the names and that but it's extremely serious for Andrew. And also the names and faces of the alleged victims of trafficking and different kind of abuses. In Andrew's Newsnight interview, he didn't seem particularly sympathetic to those victims of Epstein's ring, really.

11:22What do you think about that? yeah and i think i think you know any any raw watcher um will tell you how arrogant um uh andrew is and um you know he's he's he's you know he's known to be that kind of very stubborn character who you know that's part of his makeup and we've heard that over the years we've heard that from raw commentators today i mean he by the way we have to say that he strenuously denies any wrongdoing whatsoever. Yeah, he always has done. Yes, and he always has done. He always has denied any involvement or any knowledge of Epstein and his crimes. And Anthony, the King has put out a statement saying that he supports the fair process and other roles have supported this statement.

12:17what do you think you know over the next coming days few weeks the implications are for the royal family and you know further to that if we're in a scenario where Andrew goes to trial for the royal family well the royal family will will want to distance themselves even more from Andrew and I think the King's statement uh today I mean could you ever imagine his mother putting out a statement like that. I mean, you know, he really wants to distance himself from his brother because effectively, if this does end up in court and even just being arrested by the police, you know, this is all being done in the king's name.

13:00You know, police officers on the top of their helmets have the badge, which is the king. The Crown Prosecution Service, you know, is the king's prosecution service the courts are his majesty's court service you know so effectively you know he will be prosecuting his own brother if this ever gets to court the royal family will want to move themselves away from this i mean we've seen instances where you know everywhere the royal family have gone they've been asked questions about uh andrew we've also seen you know one incident where the king was heckled you know so they they they want to make sure that there is you know clear water between them and him and especially over the next years to come so Anthony is this hurdle too big for the royal family to jump over um no I mean I've heard people saying you know this is the end of the royal family but no I mean the royal family have been through worse than this um you know they've chopped each other's heads off so uh yeah no it's uh They've definitely had worse than Andrew being arrested.

14:07Well, Anthony, thank you so much for your time. I know that you are very, very, very busy with this. The live vlog is running and, you know, there are lots of eyes on it. So thank you so much for coming on The Standard Podcast. No, no problem. I'm sure I'll be back. This story will run and run. Absolutely. Well, you're welcome anytime. time.

14:32And that's The Standard. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. If you'd like to get in touch, email us at podcasts at standard.co.uk. We'll be back here on Monday morning. See you then.